Howley: Wales must give it one last blast

WALES coach Rob Howley has urged his charges to ensure they have no regrets in their final game of the season against South Africa this afternoon.

The tourists were hammered 38-16 in last weekend's first Test in Durban, and few are giving the tourists any chance of turning matters around at the Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit (kick-off 2pm).

It's been a long season for the national side, many of whom were part of the victorious British and Irish Lions squad last summer, but assistant coach Howley has urged them to dig deep to give it one last blast.

"This is the last game, you have your summer holidays and then it is still nearly five months until we are back together for the autumn," said Warren Gatland's right-hand man.

"It is a long time, and you do not want to be thinking 'what if we had prepared or done something different?'

"But this is the challenge for us. We need to show we are a better team than we showed last week.

"We need to be more competitive in all areas because they were vastly superior in the majority of areas.

"We have to be more clinical at key moments and look to put them under pressure in a way we were not able to last week."

Wales are without influential captain Sam Warburton but Howley has praised the flanker's deputy Alun Wyn Jones, who delivered a rousing speech that left the squad with no doubt about what is expected of them in Nelspruit.

Howley said: "We have to make sure our attitude is spot on this week and Alun Wyn Jones spoke superbly in the team room.

"He has been excellent taking over from Sam Warburton over the last three weeks. He has led maturely and says things at the right time, and we do not want to leave South Africa without showing them the best of Wales, and that was not the best of us last week.

"He is very selfless and knows the game, the way he spoke passionately about playing for Wales and what it means to him summed things up quite poignantly."